Searching For a Good Taco: Red Hook, Brooklyn

Filed under Brooklyn, Food + Drink Reviews, Mexican · Print This Post

I have to admit that we didn’t drive from Harlem all the way down to Red Hook to look for a good taco. We made the trip to check out the Fairway Supermarket that opened a few months ago and do our grocery shopping for the week. Walking along the waterfront of Red Hook, you’ll be reminded that the city was a port city.

Giant machines, old warehouses, heavy containers, big ships, abandoned piers and the squawking seagulls make up the view. There is no subway close to the water so visitors need to have a car or trek from Carroll Gardens to get to Red Hook. It’s probably this inconvenience that’s stopping Manhattan folks from coming and moving in droves. But when you get there, you can imagine the old-school blue-collar New York way before the cafés and art galleries–and Fairway–started to open up in the neighborhood. Gentrification is well on its way, but who am I to snort when I live in one of the newest buildings in west Harlem?

The Times featured the tents outside the Red Hook baseball fields last week where all kinds of different foods are sold. We wanted to pass by and look for the pupusas we had in El Salvador and to slurp the vinegar goodness of Ecuadorian ceviche. We thought that if we find a good taco, then it would just be icing on the cake. Little did we know that we’d actually find the best taco. My search this year ends.

We parked our car and walked towards the park along Bay and Clinton Streets where we could already see blue tents set up for the forming lunch crowd. On Henry Street, however, we spotted a lone table with a tarp tied to a tree, so we decided to check the goods there before heading to the busier part of the field.

Large pieces of pork are stewed in a vat of boiling marinade then cut up into smaller portions before filling soft tortillas with finely chopped onions and cilantro. I haven’t tasted every taco sold in New York City but I’m going to have to lay it out there and say that this is the best taco I’ve had so far.

As a comparison, we bought a beef steak taco from the last stand on the far side of Clinton. Although it was good, it wasn’t enough to make us forget about the taco we just had. The Dr., my brother and I all voted for the first taco as the better one.

The secret in the second taco was the chicharron, or pig’s skin deep-fried into crunchy paradise. I think the lady was thrilled that we asked for extra chicharron when she was putting a taco together for us.

Related post/s:
The story behind Searching for a Good Taco in New York City
Second stop, East Village
First stop, Upper West Side

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Momofuku Ssam Bar

Filed under East Village, Japanese, Korean · Print This Post

207 2nd Avenue corner of 13th Street
212/254.3500
$9 for one, with a drink, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

Remember when the Lambs were all over 5th Street opening up to five restaurants in the area? Two of them, a Korean grill, now Degustation, and Makimono, now occupied by Jack Oyster Bar that was around the corner, have since closed. So can the east Village only be conquered by one person–or one couple–at a time? And is it David Chang’s turn this year?

Every time I walk by Momofuku, it’s packed. I like my Berkshire pork as much as everyone else, but spending $13 on a bowl of somen is hard to swallow at times. Besides, when I am in the mood to spend that much for a bowl of noodle soup, any one of my white guy friends are not available to eat with me–a white guy is the accessory-du-jour at Momofuku if you’re an Asian girl. (Look up from your sticky steamed buns when you go.)

I wish Chef David Chang all the luck now that his second restaurant has opened. From bowls of noodles made fancy by adding Berkshire pork and seasonal ingredients come Korean burritos called ssam made fancy by adding, well, Berkshire pork and other seasonal ingredients. To me, though, a burrito is a burrito: a whole mess of rice, beans and meat wrapped in soft tortilla even if there are Asian touches to it. At Momofuku Ssam Bar, edamame, shiitake mushrooms and kimchi are the culprits. I was ready to surrender towards the end of my heavy lunch but I was with three other boys who thought another half would have made the $9 worth it.

Momofuku Ssam is so much better for dinner. After an hour wait in a pub down the street, we returned to be seated at the bar. The warm veal head terrine reminded me of Babbo that I almost forgot David Chang became famous because of his noodle bowls. The sweetbreads were grilled, complete with burnt stripes, and were excellent beer food with pickles. I loved the roasted mushroom salad with crosne, or Chinese artichoke, in a pistachio-based sauce. The grilled lemongrass pork sausage was much better and lighter than its soft tortilla counterpart. The lettuce is fresh and crunchy, and like Korean kalbi, is used to pick up the soft sausages. David Chang just can’t help but go back to his Asian roots and I commend him for that.

Related post/s:
Momofuku Noodle Bar, David Chang’s first restaurant
Degustation, from the Lambs

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